Malvern, PA, June 22, 2009 – REALTECH, Inc., the North American affiliate of REALTECH AG, today announced that the City of Houston has selected REALTECH to provide SAP Basis Support and System Monitoring Services. REALTECH will also be implementing the Run SAP methodology, which is an integral part of SAP Enterprise Support Services. The Run SAP methodology provides best-practice procedures, content, services, training and tools for end-to-end operations.
The Houston City Council voted to award the $2.5 million contract to REALTECH on Wednesday, May 13. The contract is for a three-year commitment with two consecutive one-year renewal options.
The City of Houston boasts a population of 2.14 million people, supported by 23,000 city employees. It is the fourth largest city in the United States and is known as the energy capital of the world.
The search for a new ERP system began more than five years ago, as part of Mayor Bill White’s initiative to make the City of Houston the most efficient municipal government in the United States. In August 2005, the City kicked-off the Blue Print phase and implemented the Financials and Material Management applications on July 1, 2006. The HCM / Payroll applications went live in March 2007.
Earl Lambert, Citywide Chief Technology Officer stated: “Providing effective BASIS support for SAP has been a challenge since the City implemented SAP in July of 2006. We have a very lean support staff and, over the past three years, we have tried a variety of options to supplement our team when complicated issues developed. Also, the 24-
hour, seven-day-per-week support requirements for SAP created an extreme burden for our small team. We recognized that our staff needed on-site mentoring and remote monitoring capabilities to handle off-hours issues.
“Last year we initiated a Request for Proposal and received proposals from eighteen firms. REALTECH demonstrated a solid commitment to customer service and showed us that they could commit high-caliber, on-site support with a focus on mentoring our staff. This is a case where we looked at a best-practice developed by a large county in the State of Texas and applied it to our operation. We are looking forward to working
with REALTECH to implement the Run SAP methodology for operational excellence and to lower our total cost of operations.”
“The awarding of this contract to REALTECH is a further step towards the City of Houston’s commitment to provide the municipal administration and its employees with a well-established and well-maintained SAP landscape,” said Ralph Jacobus, president and CEO of REALTECH, Inc. “We are proud to be able to assist them in this journey.”
REALTECH will install its Application Manager monitoring software during the first stage of the project. 24 x 7 Basis support will be provided on-site during normal business hours and remotely during off-hours through the REALTECH Remote Services Center. In this role, REALTECH will optimize the cost of managing, administering and
supporting the SAP systems by providing technical expertise and a proven methodology, thereby lowering the Total Cost of Operation (TCO) for the City of Houston’s SAP systems.